US Supremes Say Federal Money Buys Military Recruiters Spots on Campus

Just as this journal was ready for posting, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that says those colleges that accept federal money must permit military recruiters on campus. The so-called Solomon Amendment was under challenge in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, 04-1152, because the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy forced universities law schools to violate their own policies on discrimination. The ivy hall folk should remember “who pays the piper calls the tune.”

The issue is largely one of academic poseurs thumbing their noses at the military. They are perfectly entitled to do so, but most of the grunts who wind up dying in places like Fallujah didn’t get a college education first. Indeed, college is where one goes to hide from wars that might interfere with one’s fun, like Vice President Dick “Elmer Fudd” Cheney (perhaps Mr. Whittington wouldn’t have been peppered with bird shot if the vice president had served in ‘Nam and had learned to look before he shoots).

The sophistry by which academia sought to keep the recruiters out was simple enough. They claimed that the military discriminates against those who prefer partners of the same sex. Because the presence of military recruiters at the student union would be tacit approval of the military and all it stands for, they argued the recruiters should be banned. At the same time, federal aid to colleges amounts to $35 billion a year, some of it from the Pentagon. Apparently, accepting money from an institution that practices discrimination doesn’t undermine any anti-discrimination policies.

“Don’t ask don’t tell” is a stupid policy foisted on the nation by a gutless draft dodger who served as president. It is wrong, and the argument that it will undermine military cohesion is nonsense. For example, the Sacred Brotherhood of Thebes -- hieros lochos -- was an all-gay unit, for want of a better term. They impressed Alexander the Great, who unlike the US military, successfully conquered Iraq some time ago.

Justice Roberts was absolutely right when he wrote, “A military recruiter’s mere presence on campus does not violate a law school’s right to associate, regardless of how repugnant the law school considers the recruiter’s message.” Having to associate with someone with whom one disagrees is the nature of academia; no debate within a consensus ever enlightens.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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